It’s about 10:00 in the evening right now. My kids were put down hours ago, but as usual, my five-year-old little boy has not stayed put. He just popped out of bed, peeking his head around the doorway to my bedroom. When he knew that I saw him, he came in, in his t-shirt and little Spiderman underwear and promptly started reciting The Pledge of Allegiance. And he did well, especially for 10:00 at night. I couldn’t help laughing and reached out and hugged him. “I adore you, Bailey,” I told him, just one of those little statements I frequently say to him. “Well you know what?” he answered. “I think you’re pretty.”
Mind you, I’m sitting at my desk in my nightgown, not a stitch of makeup covering my tired eyes, and yet my sweet, naughty little son, who has just gotten up AGAIN from his bed has told me I am pretty.
Did he do it to woo me into letting him stay up? Perhaps. But he’s like that, my Bailey. Kind when I least expect it—sensitive and sweet. Don’t get me wrong, he’s also a very busy five-year-old boy, who has discovered bodily noises, back talking, and wild fits of energy that never cease to amaze me, but he’s a good boy. He’s my boy.
I was going to tuck him back in to bed, but he ran into the living room to my husband. I’d like to tell you he put our son back to bed, but, more likely than not, they are now sitting comfortably on the couch watching some sports program together.
I hope your little ones have stayed in bed tonight. If not, I hope you hug them and squeeze them tight. Soon they’ll be big and Spiderman undies will be a thing of the past. Until then, I’ll get out the baby book to remind both of us about the night he got up just to say The Pledge of Allegiance.